As the semester comes to an end, I would just like to say WOW. This year of classes went by so quickly and soon enough I’ll be in my own classroom teaching! Here is a photo to remind us we are not only teachers, but so much more to our students. Thanks for a great semester!

Just thought I’d share this with my fellow soon to be teachers! This checklist would be great to incorporate into a class where you are using Twitter. I think the tasks are appropriate for students to learn how to use Twitter properly and safely. I especially liked the “recognized a spam or hacker tweet.” – great way to teach students about internet safety through examples.

Hey everyone! For my major project, I decided to learn how to scrapbook as I have always loved photography. I have always wanted to learn how to scrapbook and this was my perfect opportunity! If you would like to see my finished scrapbook and the progress I shared, check out my blog! http://ecmpmajorproject.wordpress.com/

While I was in elementary school, classroom and teacher blogs were quite rare. Now they seem to be more and more popular which I think is fantastic! Classroom blogs are great in so many ways. They are a good form of communication between teachers, students and parents. They keep parents updated on what their child is learning, read any important reminders and other information. This way if a parent is unavailable to stop in and talk to the teacher face to face or their child forgets to take home a newsletter, parents are still aware of information and are kept up to date! In my opinion, there are many aspects which make a great classroom blog. Such aspects include easy to read – the text of the blog shouldn’t be too big or small and should use a font which is simple and not overly fancy. Classroom blogs should be easy to navigate in and very organized as some users such as parents may not be all that familiar with technology. If the classroom blog has tabs at the top or side of the blog to organize certain pieces of information or photos, etc. this makes it easy and quick to use and find what you are looking for. I think the use of photos and videos also add to creating a great blog as it adds variety and what parent doesn’t like to view photos of their child at school and see what they are up to during the day! Also, links to other blogs and websites are great to have because the blog user then has all the tools and information they need right at their fingertips – no need for searching and googling! Overall, a classroom blog should be user friendly, easy on the eyes and organized!

I found this photo on Pinterest and I think it has some interesting facts about education in Finland. It would be great to see some of these ideas used in all areas of the world to make schools and education even better for students and teachers!

I found 2 great websites on the internet relating to Digital Citizenship and Cyber Safety which would be great to use in the classroom to educate children on safety and rules to follow when on the web.

The first is a cyber safety game, which children can play to learn about safety on the internet. The game is called Webonauts Internet Academy from the PBS Kids website. It’s motto it teaches children is “Observe, Respect, Contribute.” I think this is a great motto for children to be aware of while on the computer and internet. First it allows the player to create an astronaut avatar. It then guides the player through various situations one might come across while on the internet and interacting with others on the internet. Such situations include others asking for personal information including name, age, address and passwords. When the player comes to these situations it gives them choices of actions (give the password, ignore the person, etc.) This game teaches children about privacy settings, web safety and much more in an enjoyable way. It also has information for parents and educators on internet safety as well. Here’s the link!

The second, is a website called Digital Citizenship. It provides information, activities and games based on all aspects of cyber safety and digital citizenship including cyber bullying, digital tracks, safety, cyber /digital friends, copyright and simply being aware. This website is a great resource for teachers as it has everything one needs to know about this important topic in one place! It has organized the games and information in 3 different stages based on ages of children and their interests and use of the internet of that specific age. Overall, a great website for teachers (and also parents) to use to educate children and students on cyber safety! Here’s the link!